Machines such as track pavers are large, and require their operator to follow a guide line on one side of the machine. In order to allow the operator to see these lines and steer the machine accurately, the operator must be able to see over or around the machine's parts. Due to the size of machines like track pavers, a single operator station centered atop the vehicle may not allow the operator the best vantage point to steer the machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,954,088 issued to Williamson et al. on Sep. 29, 1958 illustrates one attempted solution to this problem. The '088 patent discloses a road roller machine having two operator stations located at opposing sides of the machine. This arrangement allows the operator to move from one side of the machine to the other to be able to see the guide line that needs to be followed. The '088 patent, for example, discloses each operator station having a seat, a steering column, and various controls for operating the machine from either operator station.
Having dual operator stations helps the operator to steer the machine, but does have some drawbacks as it is currently employed. One such issue is that when moving from one station to the other, the controls must be manually reset. On many machines, the number of controls to be manually reset may require the operator to go back and forth between stations multiple times to ensure all of the settings are the same on both stations before being able to begin operating the machine again. For example, a paving machine may have ten or more control settings including throttle, conveyor conditions (e.g. direction, speed), or screed conditions (e.g. height, temperature, vibration). An operator may have to set each one manually by either walking back and forth to look at the controls, or relying on their memory. Relying on the operator's memory alone may result in settings being different from station to station, and that in turn may cause defects in the work being done. Having to reset the controls manually can result in time being lost, and introduces the opportunity for operator error with significant consequences.
The present disclosure is directed toward one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems of the prior art.